Vulnerabilities

SWF, PDF – It’s All Adobe

From Viruslist.com (Alex Gostev)
Recently, vulnerabilities in Adobe products have come to pose a major threat, and the number of infections which they cause overtook those resulting from vulnerabilities in Windows or Internet Explorer long ago.  The latest zero-day vulnerability was identified this week and grabbed the attention of AV researchers right way, with PDF files with a marked Chinese connection appearing in the wild.
One of these files was called “Cao Chang-Ching The CPP made eight mistang Urumuqi incident_mm.pdf”. The events of the past few days in the Chinese town of Urumqui, where local residents clashed with police, made the news around the world, so it’s no surprise to see this topic being used to spread malicious programs.   [viruslist.com]

The Future of Mobile Malware – Digitally Signed by Symbian?

From ZDNet (Dancho Danchev)
Earlier this month, a mobile malware known as Sexy View or Sexy Space slipped through Symbian’s mobile code signing procedure, allowing it to act as a legitimate application with access to device critical functions such as access to the mobile network, and numerous other functions of the handset.
Upon notification, the Symbian Foundation quickly revoked the certificate used by the bogus Chinese company XinZhongLi TianJin Co. Ltd, however, due to the fact the revocation check is turned off by default, the effect of the revocation remains questionable. What are the chances that future malware authors could bypass the code signing procedure again?   Read the full story [zdnet.com]

Adobe Flash Attacks Underway; Harden PDF Reader Immediately

Malicious hackers have found a new vulnerability in Adobe’s ever-present Flash software and are using rigged PDF documents to launch exploits against Windows targets.

The Adobe Flash Player flaw, which is currently unpatched, affects millions of Windows XP and Windows Vista users.  Adobe has acknowledged a “potential vulnerability” but, inexplicably, has not seen it fit to warn of the zero-day attacks or issue pre-patch mitigation guidance to tens of millions of its customers.

Adobe Doles Out Bug-Filled PDF Reader to Users

by Ryan Naraine

From Computerworld (Gregg Keizer)
Adobe delivers an out-of-date version of Reader to users who download the popular application from its Web site, a security company warned today.
The edition Adobe currently offers includes at least 14 security vulnerabilities that have been patched by the company in the last two months.  Read the full story [computerworld.com]  See original warning [secunia.com]

New Linux Flaw Enables Null Pointer Exploits

by Dennis Fisher

A researcher has published exploit code for a new vulnerability he discovered in the Linux kernel. The vulnerability is an especially interesting one in that the researcher who discovered it, Brad Spengler, has demonstrated that he can use the weakness to defeat many of the add-on security protections offered by SELinux and AppArmor.

Mozilla, Google Plug Critical Browser Holes

by Ryan Naraine

Just 48 hours after the release of exploit code targeting a zero-day vulnerability in Firefox 3.5, Mozilla’s security response team has rushed out a patch to protect users from code execution attacks.
With Firefox 3.5.1, rated a “critical” update, the open-source group corrects a browser crash that could result in an exploitable memory corruption problem.

New DOM Flaw Can Crash IE, Other Major Browsers

by Dennis Fisher

From The H Security

The Luxembourg security specialists G-SEC have published details of a vulnerability in the majority of browsers which will either crash the browser or consume so much memory that it makes the computer virtually unusable. The trick is simple. Using JavaScript’s DOM (Document Object Model), create a selection menu on the web page; a select element. Then assign to that select element’s length attribute a very high value, as a result there is a continuous allocation of memory. The length attribute specifies the number of menu items the select element should contain, and according to the specification (and common sense) should be read only, but in many cases, it is writeable. Read the full story [The H Security].

Office Web Components Flaw Used in SQL Injection Attacks

by Dennis Fisher

Attackers have begun using the unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft’s Office Web Components in SQL injection attacks. The vulnerability, which only became public this week, affects millions of users running a number of different versions of Windows, Office and Internet Explorer. The SANS Internet Storm Center said it is receiving reports of SQL injection attacks exploiting the vulnerability and using obfuscated code.

Cybersecurity for your growing business
Cybersecurity for your growing business

Topics

Show all

Authors

Threatpost

InfoSec Insider

Infosec Insider Post

Infosec Insider content is written by a trusted community of Threatpost cybersecurity subject matter experts. Each contribution has a goal of bringing a unique voice to important cybersecurity topics. Content strives to be of the highest quality, objective and non-commercial.

Sponsored

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content is paid for by an advertiser. Sponsored content is written and edited by members of our sponsor community. This content creates an opportunity for a sponsor to provide insight and commentary from their point-of-view directly to the Threatpost audience. The Threatpost editorial team does not participate in the writing or editing of Sponsored Content.